Eternity [ryeji]

Chapter 16

“Ryujinnie...”

Ryujin huffs when her cheek is poked.

“Jinnie, wake up.”

Her other cheek is poked and she groans, slowly opening her eyes. She blinks, turns her head and sees Yeji grinning at her. “What are you doing? And why are you there not here?” She sleepily gestures with her hands as if she’s hugging something.

“You told me to wake you up in an hour so I did,” replies Yeji. “So immortals can have bad breath too, huh?” she teases while scrunching her nose.

Ryujin gasps and covers her mouth with her hand.

Yeji laughs and sits down behind Ryujin once the woman has sat up to stretch.

“Do you have an extra toothbrush?” asks Ryujin, turning around.

“I have prepared one for you in the bathroom.”

“Thanks.” Ryujin gets off the couch and goes to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. When she returns to the living room, Yeji is watching TV with the white bear on her lap. “Why do you like that bear so much?” she asks as she sits down next to Yeji and takes a sip from the glass of water on the coffee table.

“Isn’t it obvious? Because you won it for me.”

“I will buy you a better bear. This one looks cheap.” Ryujin grabs the bear and frowns at it.

“It’s not about how it looks or how much it costs. It’s the meaning behind the bear, the precious memory of when I got it, how I got it and who gave it to me.”

Ryujin smiles, pats the bear and returns it to Yeji. “I know. I was just teasing you. But I’m serious about getting you a better, cuter and bigger bear.”

“Thanks but you don’t have to. I love Jinnie just the way she is.” Yeji hugs the bear. “Are you hungry? Do you want to get dinner first before we go to your place or…?”

Ryujin takes out her phone from her pocket and sends Yuna a message. “Let’s buy something on the way back so Yuna doesn’t have to cook tonight.”

“Fine by me.” Yeji shifts her eyes back to the TV.

After she has sent Yuna the message and received a reply, Ryujin puts the phone on the table, leans back and says. “I think it’s time.”

“Time for what?”

“To tell you about her.”

Yeji looks at Ryujin in surprise. “Her as in your London girl?”

Ryujin nods.

“Okay.” Yeji switches the TV off and sets the plushie aside.

Ryujin starts the story with how she met her, telling Yeji about her and Yuna’s financial situation at that time and what they had to sell to get some money.

“It was 1965, nearly fifty years ago,” says Ryujin. “I was a bit jaded at that time, to be quite honest. Being an immortal, you get to see a lot of things that you prefer not to see. I’ve lived through wars and violence after violence. I grew a bit pessimistic and her unexpected kindness caught me entirely off guard. I didn’t want to believe that she was sincere, at first, but she was indeed nice so the three of us soon became friends. When Yuna got the money from the auction, I thought she would change but she didn’t. The money didn’t affect her attitude towards us at all and I think I slowly began to see her in a different light from that moment on.

“It took a very long time because I was oblivious. I’ve never felt attracted to a woman before so I considered everything I felt towards her as friendship. I was happy to have made another good friend, I thought, a very special and dear friend.”